Thinking about a Millet DMS-1..anyone have exppierience with one?

[rumble phish]

I thinking about a CQB optic that can give me some range as well. I like the Millet DMS-1 but would like to hear from anyone who has one or has used one. Seems a much cheaper option than an EOtech or Aimpoint w/magnifiers.

[thmpr]

Save your money and purchase a higher end unit.

[rksimple]

Haven't had any problems with mine yet. Serves its purpose well, especially for the money. Glass is good, illumination is decent, no complaints for the price.

[gose]

Bought one, held it up next to my Meopta, and posted it for sale 3 mins later.

It's a $200 scope and you get what you pay for.
The glass is not very good, the illumination is pretty much useless and the scope did not give a very good/solid impression.

To my, ponying up the difference to get another Meopta was definitely worth it.
It might be the best $200 scope out there, but that doesnt really say much about the quality and why would you want to put an el cheapo scope on your nice AR?

I could potentially see it used on a .22 AR though.

[maxicon]

Inexpensive optics are a tradeoff between features and quality. You can get better glass for the same money, or get the illumination, CQB reticle, etc, and not great glass.

That said, I like my DMS-1 a lot. It's fast and fun, and the illumination does wash out in bright sunlight (many expensive CQB scopes have this same shortcoming), but it's still there when it's not so bright out. It's currently my favorite plinking scope, and I have a wide variety of scopes to choose from.

One thing to consider is mounting it. If you shoot NTCH, the options for mounting it far enough forward are limited to either expensive extended mounts (LaRue SPR-E, ADM Recon X or Scout X, or GG&G's new extended mount), or using an extended rail with rings. Most under $100 mounts aren't far enough forward to shoot the DMS-1 NTCH.

If you shoot further back, there are lots of options. All this holds true for any CQB scope, of course, except ones that include the mount like the Leupold CQ/T.

If your budget is tight and you want to try out CQB style scopes, it's hard to beat the DMS-1, and they hold their resale value pretty well. If you can pony up 3x the money, sure, there are better scopes out there, but most people who can afford $600 scopes aren't asking about the DMS-1.

You can get better glass and better quality for the same money, but in a much more basic scope.

[Prc329]

I had one a while back and liked it a lot. The illumination in daylight is garbage but the scope was good for a cheap scope.

[LibertyOptics]

We've added them to our "not recommend" list right now. I liked the SHOT Show samples alot but the production models we took delivery of were very sad in the QC dept. Hold out for a better scope.

Scott

[rumble phish]

We've added them to our "not recommend" list right now. I liked the SHOT Show samples alot but the production models we took delivery of were very sad in the QC dept. Hold out for a better scope.

Scott

Wow, really? Can you give some examples of what the problems were? This is disappointing to read as I was prepared to purchase one

Can you recommend something similar in about the same price range (+/- $50)?

[LibertyOptics]

check out my blog for commentary http://libertyoptics.blogspot.com

[rumble phish]

check out my blog for commentary http://libertyoptics.blogspot.com

Thanks for the heads up. FWIW, my Millet TRS-1 4-16x50 is perfect and works very well. I had another Calgunner at the range today thinking it was much higher priced than it was. Maybe Millet just had a batch of lemons get by QC. It happens from time to time....

Anyway, I'll keep on looking

[3GunFunShooter]

I like my Millet. Have it on my HD rifle. Great scope for the money.
Over 68 pages about it on AR15 forums. Check those out for more information. I also have a Burris XTR for my 3 gun set up. Not as nice as that, but the Millet was a lot cheaper. Hell, I and a lot of others ran a Simmons Diamond Pro 1.5-5 shotgun scope for 4 years on my 3gun set up. Now that was the best scope for the $.

[maxicon]

The DMS-1, as well as many other scopes, are good indicators for the state of the lower mid range in Chinese optics.

Inexpensive (not cheap) Chinese scopes tend to suffer on quality control, which means they suffer on assembly details. Most of them are good, but some slip through with problems. It's important to buy from a company with good customer support in case you get one of the problem scopes.

They're not as bad as the cheap scopes - NCStar, Leapers, Barska, Simmons, etc - which are a major QC gamble. This is partly how costs are kept down, and the less QC there is, the lower the cost.

Some work fine for a long time, some have problems out of the box, some work fine at first and develop problems after some use. The percentage of problems out of the box is higher for the bottom end scopes, and drops as you pay more. Even the big boys - Nightforce, USO, Leupold - have failures out of the box, just a lot smaller percentage of them.

Historically, Millett's provided excellent customer support, but they've recently been bought by Bushnell, and Bushnell's CS doesn't have as good a reputation.

If you can afford more for optics, by all means, pay it. If you can't, there are lots of decent inexpensive scopes available these days. It's all a trade-off of quality and features vs price.

[rksimple]

Scott-was the qc snafu pre or post the bushnell buyout?

[randy]

I used one on a buddy's rifle it worked real good. If that was my budget I'd buy one based off of using his.

Look at the Simmons Pro Diamond too it's about a hundred bucks.

Yes the Meopta is much nicer but have had problems holding zero. Accupoints are great but suck on hold overs. I use them both.

[shoepod]

If you can afford more for optics, by all means, pay it. If you can't, there are lots of decent inexpensive scopes available these days. It's all a trade-off of quality and features vs price.
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What would you recommend?